WINTER BACKYARD BIRDS (U.S. AND CANADA)

Rock Pigeon

SCIENTIFIC NAME: Columba Livia

Rock Pigeon

Adults have a dark bluish-gray head, neck, and chest with glossy yellowish, greenish, and reddish-purple iridescence along its neck and wing feathers.

The iris is orange, red, or golden with a paler inner ring, and the bare skin around the eye is bluish-gray.

The bill is gray-black with a conspicuous off-white cere, and the feet are purplish-red.

Females are less iridescent than males.

Juveniles show little luster and are duller.

BILL: gray-black, straight and thin, about 0.71 inch long.

SIZE: measures about 11 - 15 inches in length, with a wingspan of 24 - 28 inches.

WEIGHT: weighs about 238 - 380 grams.

COLOR: dark bluish-gray, iridescence, yellow, green, reddish-purple, orange, red, gray-black, and white.

Seeds, fruits, rarely invertebrates, and may eat bread crumbs and littered food.

Urban areas, farmland, and rocky cliffs. May gather in large flocks in urban parks where people feed them.

Europe, North Africa, and southwestern Asia.

SONG - rolling series of throaty 'coos' accompanied by strutting, bowing, inflating the throat, and fanning the tail.

CALLS - a prolonged cooing sound at the nest when trying to attract a mate and short grunting sound when alarmed.

NEST: The male builds the nest, and the female sits on the nest and makes a flimsy platform of straw, stems, and sticks from materials brought by the male.

EGGS: 1 - 3 white eggs.

INCUBATION: 18 days, both sexes.

NESTLING PHASE: 25 - 32 days.